On the political correctness of dissonance (Kevin Austin )


Subject: On the political correctness of dissonance
From:    Kevin Austin  <kevin.austin@xxxxxxxx>
Date:    Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:05:50 -0400
List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>

Dissonance and culture? Which is more dissonant, an augmented sixth or a minor seventh? I remind my classes that Helmholtz published: Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als physiologische Grundlage für die Theorie der Musik (On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music) in 1863, with a reason, as given in the title. The context is important. Albert wouldn't be born for another 16 years. As I recall, Helmholtz was much more of a 'Rameau-man', than a 'Bach-man'. The simple experiment, can be done live or with multi-channel sound. Four voices: Voice One: C D E F G Voice Two: G G# A A G Voice Three: C B C C G Voice Four: E E E E G Voice one can be top or bottom. Place the four singers, or loudspeakers close together (strong integration for most non-AP listeners). Place the four singers / loudspeakers in four far corners of the room. Does the final G sound like one pitch(class) with an octave, or four different notes, possibly of the same pitch. In the second example, does auditory streaming dominate, ie, do the "chords" [sic] ever integrate into 'harmony'? As I look at the four lines written above, I stream four voices, and do not hear the tritone in the second chord, or the semitone/major seventh in the fourth. One advantage of not having to deal with 'sound' in this experiment is that the voices are not out of tune. Kevin


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